The earliest cell phones included boxy designs full of buttons and antennas, and they only made calls. Needless to say, we’ve come a long way from those classic brick phones of the 80s and early 90s. But, the future of cell phone tech is still on its way. Not long ago people thought Blackberries were the epitome of mobile devices. However, then the iPhone with its touch screen and Internet browsing came along. While it’s impossible to know for sure what might happen to cell phone tech in the coming years, we can infer what to expect.
Long gone are the days of email access or brick-breaker as the height of cell phone apps. Today, ordering a car service like Uber means the future. Though, this too will be overshadowed soon by what’s to come. From new shapes and sizes to functions, and, of course, artificial intelligence integration, the future of cell phone tech is as exciting as it gets.
Embrace the Change
An important note to keep in mind as we discuss the potential changes in cell phone tech, like any change, the shift can be daunting. Many were quick to denounce Facebook as a passing fad or thought touchscreens to be clunky. Yet, the early adopters of these technologies found them to be incredibly functional and successful. Change can be scary. It can also be exciting, so it’s good to keep an open mind about new tech.
AI as a Part of Phone Tech
Let’s address the robotic, machine learning elephant in the room and discuss how AI, or Artificial Intelligence, will likely be a large part of all technology in the future, including cell phones.
Fine Tuning Information Consumption
AI has been the worst-kept secret in the tech industry in recent years. Everyone is talking about it, but what might it be able to do on a cell phone? The first big weight that it will likely lift is the filtering of information. Work is already being done on using AI for making searches and optimizing how people browse the Internet. Plus, most expect that a quick adoption to cell phones is next.
Anticipation of this sort of technology also includes its use to filter fraudulent information. This allows people to decipher harmful internet practices like scams or fake advertisements. It could potentially develop to the point where it can process and filter dishonest news, too.
Technology Learning from You
Sorting information isn’t all AI could do for you either. One expected development that we’re already beginning to dip our toes into is data collection. Plus, the ways it might propel innovation in app development.
Many modern apps follow a simple formula of offering a service in exchange for collecting data on how you use that service. To use an example previously mentioned, Uber is a company that revolutionized the driving service industry by implementing data collection software into what was essentially a taxi service. The future of what you can do on your phone isn’t entirely dependent on this sort of data collection. But we would expect to see many antiquated industries revitalized by the convenience of call phone tech.
New Phones: Shapes and Sizes
More innovation has been made in how phones look and feel over the past several years. This trend can be expected to continue. Think not only about how phones have fluctuated between large and small sizes but also about where they’ve been applied. Smartwatches, for example, are a recent acquisition in the cell phone market, and the same argument could be made for smart home devices as an evolution of the landline. This is to say that what used to define what a phone looked like or how one interacted with it is no longer indicative of what might come to be.
Moving Forwards by Looking Backwards
One of the most ironic developments in the cell phone industry is the modern reinvention of the flip phone. While Lauren Goode, writer for a related article on Wired, relegates the flip phone as a niche, she also expects more comparable niches to develop in ways that we might not be able to comprehend today. One of those niches that Goode anticipates expansion upon is a renovation of the computerized headsets of ole, think Google Glass. Wearable technology is nothing new to us anymore, I refer back to the smartwatches, and the development of similar cell phone-esque devices is likely to continue as well.
Smart Devices – Cell Phones
Everything finds itself “smart” these days, and in that sense, anything can be developed to do what the cell phone is primarily supposed to do: communicate. You can already make phone calls from your car, what’s stopping that from progressing?
This perspective essentially boils down to trying to expand the concept of what a cell phone can be. One day, we might find ourselves with chips in our brains making calls and sending texts by thinking of what we wish to say. The first step towards that future is the cell phone screen in your car and on your refrigerator.
